CAIN

A monologue from the play by Lord Byron

LUCIFER: A superior?! Superior?!No! By heaven, which heHolds, and the abyss, and the immensityOf worlds and life, which I hold with him—No!I have a Victor—true; but no superior.Homage he has from all—but none from me:I battle it against him, as I battledIn highest Heaven—through all Eternity,And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades,And the interminable realms of space,And the infinity of endless ages,All, all, will I dispute! And world by world,And star by star, and universe by universe,Shall tremble in the balance, till the greatConflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease,Which it ne'er shall, till he or I be quenched!And what can quench our immortality,Or mutual and irrevocable hate?He as a conqueror will call the conqueredEvil, but what will be the Good he gives?Were I the victor, his works would be deemedThe only evil ones. And you, ye newAnd scare-born mortals, what have been his giftsTo you already, in your little world?But few; and some of those but bitter.Back with me, then, to thine earth, and try the restOf his celestial boons to you and yours.Evil and Good are things in their own essence,And not made good or evil by the Giver;But if he gives you good—so call him; ifEvil springs from him, do not name it mine,Till ye know better its true fount; and judgeNot by words, though of Spirits, but the fruitsOf your existence, such as it must be.One good gift has the fatal apple given—Your reason: — let it not be overswayedBy tyrannous threats to force you into faith'Gainst all external sense and inward feeling:Think and endure, — and form an inner worldIn your own bosom — where the outward fails;So shall you nearer be the spiritualNature, and war triumphant with your own.